Irish-Language

How to make comparisons in Irish – without losing your best friends

<b>N&iacute;os airde:</b> The world&rsquo;s tallest man Sultan Kosen (8ft 3in) meets the world&rsquo;s smallest Chandra Bahadur Dangi (1ft 9<sup>1</sup>&frasl;<sub>2</sub> in), in London for the Guinness World Records 60th birthday and a cup of tea!
Níos airde: The world’s tallest man Sultan Kosen (8ft 3in) meets the world’s smallest Chandra Bahadur Dangi (1ft 912 in), in London for the Guinness World Records 60th birthday and a cup of tea! Níos airde: The world’s tallest man Sultan Kosen (8ft 3in) meets the world’s smallest Chandra Bahadur Dangi (1ft 912 in), in London for the Guinness World Records 60th birthday and a cup of tea!

Go mbeannaí Dia daoibh agus bhur gcéad míle fáilte isteach chuig the Bluffer’s Guide to Irish.

Well, the Bluffer has been lax with his fans for too long so it’s time for a little grammar.

We probably know the words maith - good, olc - bad, mór  - big and beag - small. 

Easy, peasy.

But how do you say better, worse, bigger and smaller?

The bad news is that big changes happen when you do this, but hey, we’re in this for the long haul, aren’t we?

The thing is the adjectives change when you are comparing things, so let’s have a look at maith to start with. 

When contrasting things or people, you need the word níos, maith changes to fearr, so níos fearr means better. 

Let’s look at that in a sentence. Tá glasraí níos fearr ná burgair - vegetables are better than burgers. 

Tá an raidió níos fearr ná an teilifís - radio is better than the television.

Get one’s drift?

What about olc then? Well, it changes to measa so tá an tart níos measa ná an t-ocras - thirst is worse than hunger.

Níl déideadh níos measa ná tinneas cinn - a toothacche isn’t worse than a headache.

The Bluffer believes we are on a collective Mexican wave right now as we head to mór and it changes to mó.

An bhfuil Corcaigh níos mó ná Luimneach? Is Cork bigger than Limerick?

(The answer is yes.)

Because beag changes to lú, you could say that a different way.

Tá Luimneach níos lú ná Corcaigh - Limerick is smaller than Cork.

So now you have the formula, tá X níos Y ná Z so you can practice with your mates.

“What about other adjectives, how do they change?” we hear you ask.

Ard - tall becomes airde, deas become deise and cairdiúil becomes cairdiúla, for example so you can try those out with which of your friends are taller, nicer or more friendly than others - without it turning into a bitching session, of course!

I’ll give you one final example - tá Orla níos cairdiúla ná Aoife - Orla is friendlier than Aoife. Now away yez go.

In the meantime, let’s have another look at a word we learned earlier today, fearr.

As we know fearr gives the impression that something is better and if you say is fearr liom... it means that you think something is better than something else, in other words, you prefer something.

If someone were to ask you “cé acu is fearr leat, tae nó caife?” they are asking which you prefer, tea or coffee.

You would reply is fearr liom tae means I prefer tea.

Again you can ask your friendly local Gaeilgeoir, which they prefer using the cé acu is fearr leat formula and you can learn a lot about a person whether their preference is for Gaelic football or soccer, Lanzarote or Albufeira, cheese and onion or smoky bacon crisps. 

Is fearr means the best as in an peileadóír is fearr - the best footballer but we’ll have a look at superlatives next week if you want to have a wee think about how the most beautiful woman or the most handsomest man in the world is. 

CÚPLA FOCAL

níos fearr (neess faar) - better

tá glasraí níos fearr ná burgair (taa glasree neess faar naa burgar) - vegetables are better than burgers

Tá an raidió níos fearr ná an teilifís(taa un raadeeo neess faar naa un chelafish) - radio is better than the television

tá an tart níos measa ná an t-ocras(taa un tart neess masa naa un tocriss) - thirst is worse than hunger

Níl déideadh níos measa ná tinneas cinn (neel jayjoo nees masa naa chinyiss kin) - a toothache isn’t worse than a headache

An bhfuil Corcaigh níos mó ná Luimneach?(un wil corkee nees moe naa limnyakh) - Is Cork bigger than Limerick?

Tá Luimneach níos lú ná Corcaigh(taa limnyakh nees loo naa corkee) - Limerick is smaller than Cork

tá Orla níos cairdiúla ná Aoife(taa orla nees carjoola ) - Orla is friendlier than Aoife

Cé acu is fearr leat, tae nó caife?” (cay acoo iss faar lat, tay no caafay) - which you prefer, tea or coffee?

is fearr liom tae (iss faar lum tay) - I prefer tea

an peileadóír is fearr (un pelladore iss faar) - the best footballer